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Album Review: The Presets - Apocalypso

By Joel Cosgrove | 19 May, 2008

I saw a review recently saying something along the lines of “not everyone likes dance-punk” in reference to the album Apocalypso by Aussie band The Presets. Well if dance-punk is repetitive beats/ sounds with yelling over the top then, yes, I could understand why people might not like this album. I’ve had a bunch of people rave to me about these (two) musicians, especially their live shows.

However the Presets weren’t playing in my lounge when I was listening to the CD. There are some obviously good songs on there ‘My People’ and ‘Yippiyo-ay’ sound great, a mix of 80’s electronica and the new wave of whatever genre Hot Chip, LCD Soundsystem et al fit into, that’s cool, I can identify with that. And this isn’t a bad record per se. Theses guys are great musos who’ve obviously put some thought into what they were doing. There are moments on this record that had me nodding my head and smiling, but there were other moments that left me feeling bored and empty.

I guess I wasn’t fucked up on drugs standing next to a bass bin when I had a listen. Was I not in the “mood/zone” for listening?

I feel kind of bad slating this like I have. Apocalyso just doesn’t feel very coherent as an album. Download the songs, I’d more than recommend that. Have a listen to the album in a store and make a call from there. Go see them live; they’ve got a killer rep for that, I know I definitely will. The album though… Have a listen, if you like that sort of music then jump on it. If you don’t… Don’t you just download a couple of songs nowadays? The Presets are worth having a look at.